I am a Mom of boys

What? You have never rigged up your balcony so that your boys can repel down the walls? Anyone? No? Huh. Good times.

My little guy turns five!

I don't believe it. I hate to even think it. He is five. Five! Next year will be kindergarten and I will cry. He is doing soccer again this year, which he loves. It is hilarious to see him running down the field with his "game face" on and his tongue sticking out. His first game he scored six goals. Of course, three were in the wrong goal. Baby steps, right? He averages four to five goals a game and is having a great time. Our coaches this year are amazing.
I should never be put in charge of decorating a cake. Never. This is supposed to be Lightning McQueen.
Logan's grandparents came up for Halloween/Loren's birthday/Logan's birthday and they helped us wrestle a few of his closest friends at a little party in the park. Loren is doing an admirable job of trying to finagle a bunch of little ones in a race. Of course, by the end of the party the cops were called. But that is another story.

Logan is such a sweet, smart little boy. I love how excited he gets about motorcycles. And running. And fixing with dad. I love how he sincerely tries hard to learn and make us proud. I love how he still wants to cuddle with me in the morning. I love it when he works out with me, doing his lunges and sprints. And I love how he is still my little guy. Happy birthday!

Yes. I am a nerd.

I wouldn't call myself a super Twilight fan. But I certainly do enjoy the books and movies. Even more, I love an excuse to get together with girl friends and giggle. Ladies, I give you the Second Annual Twilight Party.

Co-host Mary and I got together and made homemade mushroom ravioli. From the first book, if you didn't know. Homemade! Like we actually made the pasta! It might not have turned out the prettiest, but I am totally giving us points for trying.
Yes, the cupcakes have Twilight toppers. Awesome. Nicely done, Brit.
And Bella and Edwards red velvet heart-shaped wedding cake. Thanks, Ruth.
No, these are not my action figures. I borrowed them from one of the Young Women. But they are cool, right? If they were mine I would have already taken them out of the packaging and staged a fight.
Of course, LaRisa stands us all up and makes individual lasagnas for everyone! That is just crazy talk. Delicious, delicious, crazy talk.

I'm sad that I didn't take any pictures of the actual party! We had a few games planned but the ladies were having such fun talking that we didn't want to interrupt.

I'm not sure when the last movie is coming out, but you can plan on the 3rd annual party being somewhere close.

Preschool

Logan and McKay both started preschool this year; here they are on their first day of school. McKay goes to a little co-op preschool with some friends from church. Each of us takes a turn with a letter; number; and color. They go once a week for two hours. Crazy enough; it is all boys! McKay loves preschool! He knows all of his letters and numbers; and can count to 20. He especially loves playing with his friends. It is nice to have a little time with Logan as well.





Logan goes to preschool at Anthem Elementary three times a week for two and a half hours. He loves it as well. He knows and can write all of his letters; can count to 100; and is starting to add and subtract. If you tell him his birthday is on the 18th and today is the 2nd he can tell you that there are 16 days left. Smart boy! His teacher evaluations were great; they just wondered what they were going to teach him the rest of the year. He has a good friend there and so especially loves going. I volunteer in the classroom once a month and it is so cute to see him. I thought he was much more shy than he really is. And apparently he loves the ladies just as much as McKay. McKay usually cooperates by taking his nap during Logan's preschool so I can actually accomplish a few tasks. Love my smart little boys!

Camping

My children love to camp. I don't know why. Is it the peeing on trees? Regardless, they can't get enough. Whenever we want Logan to work on a goal he chooses camping as a reward. So after he finished three months of doing his daily chores we took the boys for a weekend in the woods.

We went to a campsite past Lake Mary's. It rained the whole way up but stopped five minutes from our site. The boys had a blast shooting guns, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, going on hikes, and looking at bugs. Loren was right there for all little gun shooting, don't worry.

We also spent some time crawdadding at Lake Mary's. We barely had time to get our poles in the water before a huge storm rolled in. The boys still had fun checking out crawdad skeletons and drawing in the mud. Loren used to crawdad at this lake when he was younger so it was kind of sweet.

We spent the rest of the time checking out the Flagstaff area and playing in parks. A great weekend away from the heat.

Workin' boys

So Lowe's does these cute little Saturday workshops for the little ones, I think twice a month. And Home Depot once a month if you are interested. Usually we just let Logan go with Daddy. This time McKay got to go. I love how his apron is the same length as his shorts. The boys got to make binoculars, which they loved. They also got to play with little mini hammers, which they loved even more.

As a side note, I did take Logan once. We "made" a school bus. Yeah. I'm not really trusted with a hammer anymore.

Or a "chicken" as the boys call hammers. I don't really know why.

Summer in Arizona

I love it when the cacti bloom. It seems so positive and optimistic. Like if a cactus can bloom surely you can do whatever you set your mind to, right?

This was our third Arizona summer and it was kind of a cake walk. That might have something to do with the fact that the kids are older so I am not carrying them around, and something to do with the fact that we have just acclimated. Yeah, I got a little tired of the heat but it was more annoying than anything. Of course, now I am a wussy girl and cannot handle the cold. How did I ever live in Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado? At seventy degrees we are in coats drinking hot chocolate.

I miss you guys!

Arg! It has been so long since I have updated this! I am such a slacker. Way back in June Logan's best friend moved. I got to watch Saylor, Krew, and Dempsey twice a month and loved to see them all play together. Logan was so sad that Saylor left, but since we have family in Idaho hopefully we will get to see them again. Next June?